Not just Shark
Pictures: Elasmodiver contains photos of sharks, skates, rays, and
chimaera's from around the world. It began as a simple web based
field guide to help divers find the best places to encounter
different species of sharks and rays but it has slowly evolved into
a much larger project containing information on all aspects of shark
diving and photography. There are now more than a thousand shark
pictures and sections on shark evolution, biology, and
conservation. There is a large library of reviewed shark books, a
constantly outdated shark taxonomy page, a monster list of shark
links, and deeper in the site there are numerous articles and
stories about shark encounters. Elasmodiver is now so difficult to
check for updates, that new information and pictures are listed on
an Elasmodiver Updates Page that can be accessed here:
If you're looking
for a broader range of marine life pictures the following links
represent a new area of elasmodiver.com that contains pictures of
other marine organisms and of marine habitats. This expansion of
Elasmodiver is in its first stages but will eventually include pages
on all types of marine mammals, bony fishes and marine invertebrates
as well as coastal habitats, reefscapes and other imagess relating
to the ocean. Please return regularly to enjoy the progress.
Sharks and rays completely monopolized my time during the last quarter of
2005 which is good news for anyone that visits Elasmodiver on a regular
basis as there have been plenty of small updates.
I
managed to get back to Australia twice which resulted in 3 new stingaree
species and one new wobbegong shark being added to the index. You can
follow the picture links below to all of the new images in the
Shark Pictures Database or read the species descriptions from the links on
Elasmodiver's
HOME page and find out exactly where and when to dive with
them.
Sinclair's Stingaree
Masked Stingaree
Spotted Stingaree
Cobbler wobbegong
It's possible that the Sinclair's and
Spotted stingarees are actually variations of the same animal. I spoke to
Peter Last of CSIRO who conducts a lot of the taxanomic work on Australian
elasmobranchs and he said that the species are under review. More specific info
is included on their respective pages.
After the Australian trips I hooked back up
with Eli Martinez and
SHARK DIVER MAGAZINEto
go to the Bahamas in search of big sharks
and came back with many new shots of Lemon sharks both in daylight (like the
group in the header), and at night (below). The night dive shark feeds were great
fun and all the shots are listed in the
LEMON
SHARKS PICTURES PAGE including a larger version of the image you see
here:
After the Bahamas I flew down to St Maarten to cover a
Caribbean reef shark feed for Shark Diver. The reef sharks there are big
and feisty and some very dynamic pictures are due to be published. As soon
as they hit the magazine stands I'll load them onto Elasmodiver. In St
Maarten I found a species of shark called a Blacknose shark. These sharks
are rarely photographed so I was especially happy to get some
shots for the database. Follow this
BLACKNOSE SHARK link to get
to its
information page or click on the picture to see all the Blacknose shark
pictures in the Shark Pictures Database.
Elasmodiver
now has the beginnings of a Shark Photography section. If you follow the
new shark photography link off the home page it will take you to an index
which looks at the different aspects of photographing sharks. As I am by
no means David Doubilet (National Geographic Underwater Photographer in
residence) it is designed to encourage beginner and intermediate level
photographers to get in the water and hone their skills. Presently it
covers
basic composition and has a discussion page on the ethics of shark photography
and conduct. There will be many more pages added fairly soon so its worth
checking regularly if you're interested. To take a peek follow this link:
SHARK PHOTOGRAPHY PAGES
Shark
Diver Magazine subscribers will already be familiar with the new articles
on the Shark Diving Stories Page. But for those of you that (for some
obscure reason) don't get Shark Diver Magazine, Tasseled wobbegongs,
and Stingray City on Steroids are both newly added.
For
a more informative look at Western Australia where those stories were
written, there are also new pages on the Shark Diving Hotspots Map.
BIG
PLANS FOR ELASMODIVER...
Elasmodiver is getting a major face lift. The Frames in the original site
are gone. Now google searches will always arrive at a page with a nav bar.
Elasmodiver also has a new brighter look and all the images in the
Shark Pictures Database have been thumbnailed to help shorten page loading times
I'm
looking forward to creating an information portal in the near future that
links to anyone who wants to list their ongoing elasmo research, I would
also like to have a database of papers published on newly described
species. I'm fascinated by the idea of new species being discovered and I
think it would be good to have a location where information on these discoveries can
reside. Of course there will be no pictures to accompany the information
but that
gives me something to go shoot one day!
Other
shark plans afoot...
Lately I've spent a lot of time in Texas working on "SHARK CHASERS" which is
a new series destined for network TV. The promo says it better than I can
so here it is:
"Shark Chasers follows a
team of shark obsessed filmmakers as they travel the globe in search of
the ultimate adventure: up close encounters with the world's most feared
creatures. Each show is a controlled adrenaline rush that culminates in a
pulse racing climax. 50% documentary and 50% reality show, Shark Chasers
is 100% action!"
That pretty much sums it up. Its a very exciting project to work on. Right
now we're putting the trailer together and if all goes well we should
start shooting the first show in the early summer.
If
you want keep an eye on the progress of Shark Chasers bookmark this link:
That's it for new content but keep checking
because every few days something changes unless I'm at sea looking for sharks.
Thanks for visiting, thanks for linking your websites to Elasmodiver, and
thanks for helping educate and protect sharks.
